Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, October 19, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Joining Coordinate AdjectivesWhen we use multiple adjectives to describe the same noun, we may or may not use commas between them, depending on how the adjectives function together. In general, we do use commas between coordinate adjectives. What are coordinate adjectives? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 CloisonnéLikely invented in the Middle East but later perfected by the Chinese, Japanese, and French, cloisonné is an ancient method of decorating metals with enamel. It involves adhering metal wire to a metal object in a specific pattern, filling the resulting compartments with colored enamel paste, and firing the object to fuse the enamel to its surface. The earliest surviving examples of cloisonné are six 13th century BCE Mycenaean rings. Where in Venice's St. Mark's Basilica can one find cloisonné? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Streptomycin Is First Isolated (1943)After coining the word "antibiotic" for bacteria-killing chemicals derived from micro-organisms, American microbiologist Selman A. Waksman, working with Albert Schatz, isolated streptomycin—the fourth antibiotic ever discovered. Waksman won the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery. Streptomycin acts by inhibiting protein synthesis and damaging cell membranes. Produced by soil bacteria, it was the first specific agent effective in the treatment of what disease? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 John McLoughlin (1784)A Canadian doctor and fur trader, McLoughlin became administrator of the far western region of England's Hudson's Bay Company in the 1820s. In spite of the strained relations between Britain and the US, "the Father of Oregon" offered help to American settlers in the disputed territory. After an 1846 treaty established the US-Canadian border farther north than he had hoped, he claimed a large tract of land whose ownership he disputed with the US until his death. Who was he accused of murdering? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 There was no use in trying to emancipate a wife who had not the dimmest notion that she was not free.Edith Wharton (1862-1937) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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a sore loser— Someone who complains, becomes upset, or otherwise reacts very negatively when he or she fails or loses at something competitive. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Feast of the Martyrs of North America (2025)The Feast of the North American Martyrs commemorates the death of eight priests who were killed by the Iroquois, enemies of the Huron Indians, with whom the priests had been working for 34 years. The eight who are remembered on this day are St. Rene Goupil (1608-1642), St. Isaac Jogues (1607-1646), St. John Lalonde (d. 1646), and their companions, French Jesuits who died in 1649. They were canonized together in 1930, and a shrine built for them at Auriesville, New York, holds a novena each year over nine days, including October 19. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: impliedsubaudition - The act of understanding something that is implied but not overtly expressed; the act of reading between the lines or otherwise understanding a message that is implicit. More... tacenda, tacit - Tacenda are things not to be mentioned or made public—things better left unsaid; tacit means "unspoken, silent" or "implied, inferred." More... | |